The Law Court’s Secret Porn Star

Reporters sometimes come across interesting information that, for various reasons, can’t be verified. It could be that records are sealed or destroyed, witnesses are afraid to come forward, too much time has passed — or the story is simply ‘dangerous’ because it’s a huge black eye to a system we’re supposed to trust.

There are three credible sources for the post you’re about to read … two senior police officers and a Court of Queens Bench Justice. All retired — and confidential.

REMEMBER VHS TAPES?

The story begins more than 30 years ago in a residential part of Edmonton, Alberta …

A sanitation worker with the City of Edmonton was emptying garbage cans into an idling garbage truck when he came across a VHS tape. Curious to see what was on the tape, he brought it home and popped it in a VHS player.

Whoa!! He found himself watching a homemade pornographic movie with two males going at it. One was an adult; the other, a youth.

[The adult was the ‘insertive’ partner; the young teen the ‘receptive’ partner. No surprise there.]

The City employee turned over the video tape to Edmonton Police [EPS] where one of the officers [we’ll call him ‘Cop #1’] viewed the shocking evidence and announced, “That’s an Edmonton Court of Queens Bench Justice!”

According to police, the video recording was made while the man was a lawyer, not a judge.

Photo: Author

According to Cop #1, the short video was hand-held and shot by the perpetrator.

POLICE BRASS

Then the Chief of Police got involved. Cop #1 was immediately removed from the file and more senior officers assigned. Please don’t tell me you’re surprised.

A few weeks later, the justice resigned.

In spite of the evidence, police refused to lay charges. The pedophile justice remained a free man. In fact, he went back to being a lawyer.

Cop #1 then checked his computer and made a shocking discovery — the file he’d worked on had mysteriously vanished. The officer, long retired, called it one of the biggest disappointments of his long career in law enforcement.

Initially, he had refused to tell me the name of judge.

I was curious as hell to find out who he was, and so I asked around. No one seemed to know. If they did, they weren’t talking.

A few years later, I hit pay dirt with Cop #2 … a former city detective. The man spoke freely about the file, recalling many details as if they’d happened only weeks earlier.

Cop #1 and #2 do not know each other’s identity.

Cop #2 provided the name of the justice. I didn’t know him — never met the guy — but I was aware of his family name because it was well-known.

It’s still well-known. And, far as I can tell, it’s a respected name.

Because the man was not charged, I cannot make his name public. I also can’t reveal which federal political party appointed him to the bench — or the year he became a justice — or the year he was ordered out. That kind of information would help identify him.

I doubt very much that charges will ever be laid. And that’s the whole point of this story …

[Note that in Alberta, judge refers to someone appointed by the provincial government. Higher up the food chain is a justice, appointed by Ottawa. So as not to be overly repetitive, I’ve used ‘judge’ and ‘justice’ interchangeably.]

A DEAL IS CUT

I asked Cop #2 why the man wasn’t charged. His response was that it was a ‘plea bargain’ — in other words, resign and you won’t be charged. One could say it’s tantamount to a ‘plea bargain’ — but not really because there was nothing to plead. The man was never charged and therefore he did not appear in court.

The backstory from Cop #2 was that several EPS officers flew to Ottawa where they spent the night at the Chateau Laurier, a 5-star hotel downtown. Next morning, the policemen met behind closed doors with the Federal Minister of Justice and the Deputy-Minister of Justice.

A communications official with the Department of Justice confirmed the dates of service for the judge — and the Prime Minister who appointed him. The communications staffer I spoke with either didn’t know why the justice resigned, or didn’t want to share the juicy details.

A resignation letter was drafted for the disgraced justice. The officers promptly returned to Edmonton, walked over to the Law Courts Building, rode the elevator to the top floor where Court of Queens Bench Justices have their cubicles.

According to Cop # 2, the pedophile judge promptly signed his resignation papers and he was “given five minutes to clean out his desk.”

The Law Courts Building in downtown Edmonton. Photo: Author

THE VICTIM

I’m told the victim, a youth, likely came from a temporary jail for young offenders, the Yellowhead Youth Detention Centre. At the time, the facility was located alongside Yellowhead Trail in North-Central Edmonton.

I’m also told the victim was in his early teens … and Native. Let me know if this surprises you.

I was not able to track down the youngster who — if he’s still alive — would now be in his late 40s or early 50s.

ANOTHER JUSTICE REACTS

When told about the pornographic tape, a retired Court of Queens Bench Justice asked, “Does his last name start with [X]?” “Yes, it does,” I replied. Turns out, the Justice not only knew the man — he worked alongside him.

He then talked about a rumour circulating at his workplace, the Law Courts, after the justice mysteriously left. “We heard he was in possession of child porn,” he said. I shot back, “Possession? Shit, he was the leading actor in a porn movie …”

I told the retired judge that I planned to do a story on it, that I was still looking for information — possibly a confirmation on record somewhere — and, hopefully, track down the suspect and speak with him.

I added, “I have no problem taking the word of the police on this file because you people do it all the time.” “Interesting,” the retired justice said, rubbing his chin.

MAKES ONE WONDER …

A fair question: how many cases did the boy-lover justice handle that involved people facing sex crimes? Were they given “breaks” or did the judge ‘play by the rules’??

The pedophile went back to practicing law and according to the retired Court of Queens Bench Justice … he returned to the Law Courts Building at least once [as an attorney].

The rogue lawyer remained a card-carrying member of the Law Society of Alberta, which on paper has a sparkling code of ethics.

Here’s an excerpt from the code of ethics of the governing body … under section 7.3 “Outside Interests … “lawyers should aspire to the highest standards of behaviour at all times and not just when acting as lawyers.” Cute.

The porn star wannabe finished off his career working part-time for an Edmonton law firm.

The man is married and according to a woman close to his family, his wife is “lovely.” She also asked that I not do the story for fear his wife would read it and be hurt.

However, the source didn’t have much good to say about the rogue lawyer except that she’d been advised in the 1980s to stay clear of him because of his sexual misbehaviour. No explanation was given.

IS THAT VIDEO STILL AROUND?

I have inquired about the whereabouts of the video tape because I want to see it for myself.

Both Cops #1 and #2 say that ain’t happening. One believes that CSIS — not Canada’s biggest, but its best-known spy agency — has the tape. Don’t know if I buy that.

The second officer feels the tape is in an extremely secure part of the main police station downtown where evidence is kept under lock and key. Few people have access to the special evidence room. I sure don’t.

Other police officers I spoke to about this touchy file feel the video tape has not been destroyed because it’s “evidence.” Don’t know if I believe that either.

‘PRIVATE MATTER’

I figured that the Alberta Government department that looks after police and judges in the province [Justice and Solicitor General] would have the power to confirm the video tape exists, and possibly view it. A lawyer for the deputy-minister flatly rejected that idea, saying it is a “private” matter between police and the courts.

You bet it’s private. That’s the problem.

From the website of the Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General, I found this quote: “[the department] leads a fair and innovative justice system, ensures effective policing and supports victims of violence.” Nice words.

A PREACHER’S THOUGHTS

I was discussing this file with a pastor friend who said he wasn’t surprised to hear a Court of Queen’s Bench justice could be having sex with boys.

His spin was that pedophilia is everywhere … in many organizations. “It’s just that the Roman Catholic Church got busted,” he says, “but they’re certainly not alone.”

I hope he’s wrong, but I have this dark feeling this kind of BS [by that, I mean the crime and cover-up] goes on more than we care to admit.

Photo: Canadian Civil Liberties Association

WARNING

Cop #1 initially refused to provide the name of the rogue Court of Queens Bench justice. He wasn’t protecting the judge. He was protecting me.

From an interview in the fall of 2017, his exact words:

“It is very dangerous to go after this guy … think about it. Our society is not the same as before. They’re well connected, better than you realize.

They will take you to the cleaners, take your house, everything …”

SUPPRESSION OF CHARGES

What do you get from this article? For starters, you have the right to believe or not believe. The choice is yours.

But don’t stop believing in our police and our judicial system. It’s not perfect but it’s all we have. And it goes without saying — but I’ll say it anyway — there’s certainly room for improvement.

A suggestion: put an immediate stop to broad immunity from prosecution for select members of our society. Let’s stop this shit.

We should always be vigilant and strive to make our criminal justice system more accountable. If we don’t, we’ll surely have a two-tiered farce where the law really depends on money and influence … or a roll of the dice.

Not sure if you realize, but one of President Trump’s goals is to clean up child-trafficking and pedophilia. There are over 80,000 sealed indictments, many have now been unsealed, and pedos are being rounded up and charged.

I have to agree that this sort of thing has been going on years, everywhere, with most of the evidence covered up somehow!

Nowadays, people are speaking out about it and that’s a good thing, as more and more are finally getting charged; but their sentences never seem to fit the crime, which is sad — especially for the victims!!

Seemingly, it has always been thus — the powerful preying upon the most vulnerable — and getting away with it. Wish there were more folks like you to get these vultures into the everlasting Hells they deserve.

Considering the need to be cautious about publicly lobbing accusations without full evidence, I wonder what unprinted suspicions you might harbor about a conspiracy or like that caused the footage to disappear.

By no means am I defending the likes of Karl Toft and the gazillion priests and pastors that had their way with God knows how many scared innocent kids, but they get hung out to dry … while a judge pretty much got away with it.

His poor victim. I can only imagine how screwed up he is. I wonder if he was set free after this.

It’s sad to think what extent the system and its cronies would go to, to keep you from spilling the beans on this creep.

The Chief’s hands were tied … sort of. The perpetrator’s had a very prominent brother … sorry can’t share more than that. If you knew his brother’s position [and direct influence] at the time, you’d understand.

Well-written, with just enough plausibility and righteous indignation to get any morally sound reader pissed off.

So many would have let it lie … a rotting corpse that may never rise again.

We need to be reminded of crimes like this and their coverups. We need to pay more attention and hold our officials to the same — if not higher standards — than common citizens.

The equality that matters in a society of free men, is equality under the law. We are equal because we play by the same rules of the game called a society.

To punish one citizen for a crime and to overlook it in another is a recipe for societal discord.

Those who work in our legal system, surely know this. Not only has a criminal act occurred here in the physical abuse of a minor, but those who avoided prosecuting at the time it occurred are in my sense of it criminal accomplices after the fact. Shame on them.

By no means am I defending the likes of Karl Toft and the many priests and pastors that had their way with God knows how many scared, innocent kids … but they get hung out to dry while this guy pretty much got away with it.

His poor victim. I can only imagine how messed up he is.

It’s sad to think what extent the system and its cronies would do to keep you from spilling the beans on this creep.